When Dylan Cattanach, Artsci鈥16, walked across the Grant Hall stage on Tuesday to receive his degree, he was following in the footsteps of his father, his grandfather, his great grandfather, and his great-great uncle.
Dylan, an economics grad, is the fifth generation of the Cattanach family to earn a degree from the Queen鈥檚 Faculty of Arts and Science. (Although technically those first three generations received their degrees from the Faculty of Arts before the merger with science in the 1970s.)
鈥淭here is something about Queen鈥檚 that builds a real loyalty; it鈥檚 a tradition,鈥 says Dylan鈥檚 father Rory Cattanach, Artsci鈥80. 鈥淲hen I was in Grade 2, I just assumed I was coming to Queen鈥檚. My grandfather was a very big Queen鈥檚 guy. My older sister came to Queen鈥檚. I came to Queen鈥檚. My younger sister came to Queen鈥檚. It鈥檚 just a great university.鈥
Dylan鈥檚 older brothers went to Western and McGill so the pressure was on him to continue the tricolour legacy.
鈥淚 kind felt obligated to come to Queen鈥檚 and continue the tradition and it was an awesome decision. It was a great four years,鈥 Dylan said.
The tradition started in 1889 when James Cattanach graduated from Theology. His nephew John Cattanach was a 1919 Arts grad. Dylan鈥檚 grandfather Lachlan graduated in 1949 and was on hand yesterday to see Dylan walk across the Grant Hall stage. Over the years, there has been numerous other Cattanach family members who spent their universities years in the Limestone City.
Lachlan met his wife at Queen鈥檚 and is still friends with classmates he met 60 years ago. He has fond memories of his time at Queen鈥檚 鈥 even though one of those memories involve getting in a lot of trouble for painting a campus building.
鈥淭here is an old saying from (former Queen鈥檚 Vice-Principal) William Everett McNeill that goes Once a Queen鈥檚 man, always a Queen鈥檚 man,鈥 Lachlan says.